Live in Community - The Second Gateway Distinctive

In our culture, faith is seen as a very private matter meant to be celebrated and practiced by the individual.

But nothing could be farther from the Christian understanding of what it means to be a "believer."  From the very beginning of the early church, Christians gathered together to encourage each other's commitment to Jesus and to stimulate each other to greater acts of love and service for both God and their neighbor.

In fact, the Bible records this communal activity of the early church very beautifully in one particular passage -

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by those being saved.  (Acts 2:42-48)

Okay, I will say it...this doesn't sound very much like the Christian religion we grew up in or around actually it sounds like quite the opposite.  Be that as it may it doesn't change the reality that this is what the church began as and was meant to be - a community.

And that is what we will we work very hard to be at Gateway Heights.  A community of people learning to love Jesus better, to love him for the first time, or simply to learn more about him. 

What makes a church into a community?  Let me list a few things, taken from the passage in Acts 2, that describe a Christian community and that I hope will define Gateway Heights:

1.  A community is built around something.

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching..."

Every community that has ever existed has been based around some guiding principle or set of principles.  The church is no different.  The church is based around the belief that to overcome the separation that existed between himself and his creation God sent and sacrificed his only son, Jesus, and then rose him from the dead three days later to establish him as the king of a new kingdom open to all who came to him in faith.

2.  A community is authentic.

"And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes..."

The early church spent daily time around each other and in each other's homes.  Ever had a house-guest or been a house-guest?  It doesn't take long for you to get to know the other people in the house a little too well.  But, in the church getting to know each other, warts and all, is a major component of loving each other.  After all, you can't really love me if you don't know me.

3.  A community is life-changing.

"And awe came upon every soul..."

Spending quality time with people who really know you and yet love you anyway is a world-changing experience because it forces you appreciate other people who love you and to love them back.  In short, it bursts your individualistic bubble and places you squarely in a community.  As these people grew to know and love each other, they even valued each other more than their possessions which they quickly gave away and sold in order to help the less fortunate among them.

4.  A community is attractive.

"...having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day..."

What? New people kept showing up the church?  Since when does that happen?  I think the message of this passage is that people were attracted to the message of Jesus because the people of Jesus were living out that message so concretely in their love for each other.  People flocked to this strange phenomena of a community that was self-less because it stood in stark contrast to a culture that promoted self-gratification and self-promotion (sound familiar?).

5.  This kind of authentic, life-changing, attractive community can only be built on the foundation of faith in Jesus.

This is the message of Christianity.  God did not send Jesus in order to turn people into religious snobs who sought and took every opportunity to remove themselves from their city (sound like any Christians you know? me too!), but rather he saved and is saving people in order to restore what he originally meant for the city to be - a community. 

How can people get to know each other's faults and yet still love?  How can people value their neighbors more than their stuff?  How can people value others more than themselves in a culture of self-promotion and self-gratification?  The Bible's answer is - only in Jesus.

Think about it.  Rome thought it could get there with military might and cultural superiority. Greece thought it could get there by democracy and culture.  Europe thought it could get there by imperialism.  American thought it could get there by freedom.  Communists thought it could get through state influence and control. 

But did they?  Have we?  Do we live in the kind of community advocated in Acts 2? 

What if we could?  What if that were God's plan all along?  What if that, and not anything else, was the mission of the church?

We hope to find out the answer to that last "what if" question every week at Gateway Heights.

Make plans to attend our next vision session on May 21st, 6 - 7:30 pm, @ 1389 Lynn Park Drive, Cleveland Heights.